On 17 September 2024, Mr Gill picked up Jan Hlavaty from his home address. He took Mr Hlavaty to a yard he rented where he began dismantling a truck-mounted fork-lift so it could be sold for scrap. Mr Gill removed pins which kept the mast of the fork lift in place. He briefly stepped away to attend to a generator during which the mast, which weighed over 1 tonne, fell and killed Mr Hlavaty.
Mr Gill pleaded guilty at Birmingham Magistrates Court to a single breach of s.3(2) and s.33(1)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. DJ Quereshi regarded his sentencing powers as insufficient and committed the matter to Birmingham Crown Court.
The matter in the Crown Court was reserved before The Honourable Recorder of Birmingham, HHJ Smith KC. In passing sentence, he said Mr Gill had conducted the dismantling in a “wholly dangerous way”, “had ignored safe methods” and that the hazard to life was “obvious”.
Culpability was assessed as high, in line with the Prosecution submission. There was deemed to have been a “wilful blindness” on Mr Gill’s part to the risk which went beyond negligence. Mr Gill was said to have taken no steps to guard against obvious risks.
HHJ Smith KC took into account this was an isolated event but assessed harm in any event at Level A with a medium likelihood, in line with the Prosecution’s submission. The judge had regard to the guidance at paragraph 31 in R v Whirlpool [2017] EWCA Crim 2186 and said that the fact Mr Hlavaty had died not only meant he should look to one category above the sentencing guideline starting point but to the top of that next category. The starting point before mitigation would have been a sentence of 18 months.
The court heard that Mr Gill had no relevant or previous convictions and no history of health and safety breaches. HHJ Smith KC accepted that Mr Gill was shocked and remorseful about the death. Mr Gill was in employment at the time of sentencing.
HHJ Smith KC balanced the evidence and sentenced Mr Gill to nine months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, along with 20 RAR days, 180 hours of unpaid work and a curfew. Mr Gill was also required to pay £3,000 towards the Prosecution’s costs.
The case acts as a reminder to small businesses and business owners of the importance of managing safety even where supervision is provided at a ratio of 1-2-1 on site and of having proper risk assessments and processes in place to reduce the risk so far as is reasonably practicable.
Dr Dan Jacklin and Ben Mills were instructed by Birmingham City Council in their capacity as the prosecuting authority and as an interested person at the inquest into the death of Mr Hlavaty.
